By Staff
Special to The Star
October 1, 2004
The second largest athletic retailer in the country is set to open its doors today in the Bonita Lakes Mall.
Finish Line, whose sales revenue makes it the second largest athletic retailer behind Foot Locker, will open in more than 3,000 square feet of retail space next to the new Garfield's Restaurant &Pub.
Typically, a Finish Line store carries an extensive variety of men's, women's and children's athletic and casual shoes.
Known for its signature "shoe wall," most stores will show between 600 and 1,300 different kinds of athletic footwear, including basketball, running, walking, gym, aerobics, hiking, cross-training and skate shoes.
The stores also sell cleats, casual shoes and sandals.
Brands carried by Finish Line include Nike, Adidas, Reebok, New Balance, And 1, Oakley, Puma, Airwalk, Converse, Fila, Lugz, Saucony, Timberland and Vans.
The store is not just shoes. Approximately 20 percent of all sales come from apparel and accessories, including the latest in performance and fashion products from Nike, Oakley, Adidas, Fossil, Jansport, professional and collegiate licensed products, T-shirts, shorts, caps and outerwear from other well-known manufacturers.
The first Finish Line opened in October 1976 as a chain of the now-defunct Athlete's Foot. When the Athlete's Foot franchise expired in 1986, all Athlete's Foot stores were converted to Finish Line, which opened its 100th store in October 1991. At that time, stores were located primarily in the Midwest.
Finish Line became a publicly traded company in 1992. The company marked another milestone in 1997 when it opened its 300th store. In 1999, the company recorded its first online sales on www.finishline.com, and opened its 400th store the same year.
In 2002, Finish Line became the second largest athletic retailer based on sales revenue and expanded the company to more than 550 stores in 46 states.